Milosevic "trial", synopsis Sept. 1--10, 2003
1. "TRIAL" SYNOPSIS SEPTEMBER 2ND 2003
2. "TRIAL" SYNOPSIS SEPTEMBER 3, 2003
3. Milosevic too ill to attend trial; Montenegrin premier says he
refused to testify against Milosevic; Srpska government was blackmailed
4. "TRIAL" SYNOPSIS: SEPTEMBER 9, 2003
See also:
No break for Milosevic (by Margreet Strijbosch)
http://www.rnw.nl/hotspots/html/icty030903.html
=== 1 ===
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg090203.htm
"TRIAL" SYNOPSIS SEPTEMBER 2ND 2003
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - September 2, 2003
Written by: Andy Wilcoxson
The testimony of the secret witness testifying under the pseudonym of
"B-1505" was concluded today.
"B-1505" alleged that the JNA came to Visegrad, dismissed the legal
authorities, and armed the Serbs for the purposes of "ethnic
cleansing." A problem with "B-1505's" testimony was that this so-called
"B-1505" didn't mention anything about the JNA arming the Serbs in his
written statement. This was a new detail that he only remembered once
he took the witness stand.
And speaking of arms, this "B-1505" claimed with full certainty that
there were no armed Muslims in Visegrad, and that there were no Muslim
extremist groups in Visegrad, two claims which are outright absurdities.
Before "B-1505" repeated the same old tired Muslim line about not
having any weapons; he spoke about how Murat Sabanovic (the brother of
the SDA vice-president in Visegrad) tore down the statue of Ivo Andric
(Yugoslavia's only Nobel Prize winner) and threw the monument into the
Drina River. "B-1505" also admitted that this same Sabanovic seized
control of the hydroelectric dam and threatened to blow it up. However
not to worry, according to our witness, in spite of the fact that
people were living on the river, nobody would have been hurt even if
the dam had been blown-up. How reassuring!
I really fail to see how it could be possible that the witness could
say with a straight face that blowing-up the dam would be a harmless
endeavor. The witness admitted previously that when this Sabanovic took
control of the dam he had opened the flood gates and allowed water to
flood the populated areas down stream. It seems to me that it would
have been even worse had he blown-up the dam completely.
It was made clear by this witness's testimony that the JNA did not
come to Visegrad until after this major provocation, which the witness
didn't think was that big of a deal, had taken place. It was on April
13, 1992 that Sabanovic released the flood onto the civilian
population, and it was on April 15, 1992 that the Uzica Corps of the
JNA arrived to protect the civilians and to regain control of the dam.
"B-1505" admitted that the people of Visegrad had asked the JNA to
protect them and that the JNA did in fact protect them."B-1505" is a
witness who needs to make up his mind. If he is going to lie then he
should at least make his mind up about which lie to tell. On the one
hand he claimed that nobody could get out of Visegrad that they were
all trapped, and on the other hand he claimed that the Muslims were
all chased out of Visegrad.
"B-1505" has previously testified at other "trials" at the Hague
Tribunal, and so transcripts are available. Previously he testified
that he only knew of one person who was killed in JNA operations, but
now all of the sudden he knows about numerous people who he claims
were killed by the JNA. How interesting, this witness either has the
ability to travel back in time and see the JNA doing this, or else he
is simply parroting back what somebody else told him.
For more information about events in Visegrad visit the following link:
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/documents/reports/8-a.htm
After "B-1505" was concluded the so-called "trial" went into closed
session where they did God only knows what.
Later on in the afternoon a status conference was held President
Milosevic to establish parameters of the "defense case." President
Milosevic told the "tribunal" that time and circumstances were the
key issues.
President Milosevic stated that he needed at least two years to
prepare a response to the absurd allegations that have been made
against him.
Furthermore, President Milosevic has demanded unimpeded contact with
witnesses and the ability to access key documents needed to refute the
lies that have been put forward in The Hague, which can only be done
if he is released.
President Milosevic pointed out that although he regards the
so-called "court" as illegal, he still considers it the obligation
of the so-called "trial chamber" to give him adequate time to
prepare a defense.
Following President Milosevic's brilliant presentation, the so-called
"Judge" May did not hesitate to immediately deny, any request for
provisional release. Without giving any reason Mr. May also
dismissed President Milosevic's request for two years to prepare his
case.
After submissions from the amicus curiae and the so-called
"prosecution", President Milosevic spoke again, and claimed that the
"Prosecution's" suggestion that both parties were on an equal footing
was absurd.
President Milosevic concluded his remarks by stating that at the ICTY
there is only a prosecution and no defense, nor is there equality of
arms.
The so-called "trial chamber" has not issued any rulings on the
submissions made today, but has already rejected President
Milosevic's demands without any deliberation. A decision setting out
the parameters of President Milosevic's presentation his defense
case is expected soon.
The so-called "Judge" May said that "The accused must make the
preparations for his defense while he is in custody." He noted that the
court had previously denied a provisional release request by
Milosevic, who has been in detention since his illegal transfer to
The Hague in 2001.
"There can be no question during a trial of a break of two years,"
May said, adding that judges would consider how long Milosevic should
be given to prepare his case."
It is absurd that the so-called "tribunal" should deny President
Milosevic this time. The so-called "prosecution" has brought over
230 witnesses so far to testify against him. The transcript of the
"prosecution's" case is over 25,000 pages long. President Milosevic
needs at least 2 years to prepare an adequate defense from all of
those allegations.
NOTE: www.slobodan-milosevic.org will provide a synopsis of
tyesterday's "trial" hearing no later than Friday September 5, 2003.
=== 2 ===
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg090303.htm
"TRIAL" SYNOPSIS SEPTEMBER 3, 2003
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - September 3, 2003
The vast majority of today's proceedings took place in the so-called
"closed session." Only the 3rd session could be seen, while the first
two sessions were held in secret.
From what could be seen today a 92-bis witness named Mustafan
Kustanovic testified. Mr. Kustanovic is a Muslim businessman from
Bijeljina. Like so many other witnesses he testified about things that
he heard from other people, and he attempted to paint a personal
family dispute that he was having as some sort of an interethnic
dispute.
His testimony about the presence of Arkan and Captain Dragan in
Bijeljina contradicted the testimony of other prosecution
witnesses.His testimony also contradicted itself. On the one hand he
testified that Muslims had to pay bribes in order to leave, and on the
other hand he testified that they were chased away by the Serbs.
Mr. Kustanovic testified that there were many Muslims from Bijeljina
who joined the VRS, and that there were in fact Muslims who were
officers in the VRS. This testimony of his contradicted his allegation
that the Serbs were dismissing Muslims and replacing them with Serbs
at every opportunity. After all, as President Milosevic observed,
weren't there any Serbs who would have been competent to serve as VRS
officers?
=== 3 ===
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/dpa090403.htm
Milosevic too ill to attend trial
Deutsche Presse-Agentur - September 4, 2003
The Hague - Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic reported sick
Thursday, the judge presiding over his trial for alleged war crimes
said.
Judge Richard May ordered the 62-year-old former Yugolsav strongman to
undergo a new examination to determine his pyhsical and mental state
of health.
Milosevic, who is on trial in The Hague for alleged war crimes during
the 1990s Balkan war, is representing himself after refusing to use a
lawyer.
He has reported ill a total of 11 times since his trial began on
February 12, 2002, forcing the international criminal tribunal
tribunal trying him to cancel 50 days of hearings.
On Tuesday, the court turned down Milosevic's request for a break of
two years in judicial proceedings against him to allow him prepare his
defence.
The prosecution has so far presented 230 witnesses testifying against
Milosevic. Chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte still has until the end of
the year to present further witnesses and evidence.
Milosevic has demanded the right to call an equal number of witnesses
and take as much time delivering his defence.
Deutsche Presse-Agentur: POLITICS
September 4, 2003, Thursday -10:08 Central European Time
Copyright 2003 Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Posted For Fair Use Only
---
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/tvcg090603.htm
Montenegrin premier says he refused to testify against Milosevic
TV Crna Gora - September 6, 2003
Text of report by Montenegrin TV on 6 September
Presenter: Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic today said that
he would not testify during the trial of former Yugoslav and Serbian
President Slobodan Milosevic before the Hague tribunal. The Hague
tribunal asked me to testify against Slobodan Milosevic but I refused,
Djukanovic told TV Pink. Djukanovic said that he did not fall in the
category of those Montenegrins who ran around outside Montenegro,
rushing to offer any kind of evidence if they had it or, if not, to
offer their sheer suspicions even if these suspicions were unfounded.
I do not belong to such people; fortunately, I ended my battles with
Milosevic successfully and he now has an opportunity to prove what he
thinks he has to prove before the Hague tribunal but without my
participation, Djukanovic said.
SOURCE: TV Crna Gora, Podgorica, in Serbian 1730 gmt 6 Sep 03
Copyright 2003 British Broadcasting Corporation
BBC Monitoring Europe - Political
Supplied by BBC Worldwide Monitoring
Posted for Fair Use only.
---
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/tanjug091003.htm
Srpska government was blackmailed - Washington daily editor
Tanjug - September 10, 2003
18:11 WASHINGTON - Editor-in-Chief of the Washington daily Defense and
Foreign Affairs Gregory Copley said in a report presented to Tanjug
that the Republika Srpska government had been forced to draw up a
report on the developments in Srebrenica in July 1995, which is
essentially in conformity with claims by Islamist groups.
The Office of the High Representative for Bosnia had threatened the
Srpska government that it would be dissolved if it refused to draw up
that document, which does not reflect the true situation as shown by
forensic investigation carried out in Srpska or the results of an
independent investigation carried out by the International Criminal
Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Copley said.
Copyright 2003 Tanjug News Agency
Posted For Fair Use Only
=== 4 ===
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg090903.htm
"TRIAL" SYNOPSIS: SEPTEMBER 9, 2003
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - September 9, 2003
Written by: Andy Wilcoxson
The proceedings opened today with President Milosevic lambasting the
so-called "tribunal," especially Geoffrey Nice and Richard May for the
scandalous insinuations made by Mr. Nice last Thursday. In which Mr.
Nice implied that the president was only "playing hooky" and that
there was a pattern to his absences.
Three 92-bis witnesses testified today. The first was a secret witness
testifying under the pseudonym of "B-1058."
B-1058 was a woman from Zvornik who lost her husband and her 2 sons
during the war. B-1058 claims that masked men wearing camouflage
uniforms, who spoke with Serbian accents, burst into the cellar of her
apartment building where people were sheltering from the fighting, and
that these men separated the women and children from the men.
B-1058 claims that her husband and her sons were executed by the
masked men outside of the apartment block.
In B-1058's statement she claims that Seselj's men carried out the
killings and that Arkan's men helped to evacuate the women and
children to Serbia, but in her oral testimony she claims the opposite.
She claims that Arkan's men carried out the killing and that it was
Seselj's men who evacuated the women and children.
President Milosevic asked B-1058 to describe the uniforms that these
masked men were wearing. B-1058 could only say that they were
camouflage uniforms, she didn't identify any insignias, patches or
anything of that sort, when the President tried to press her to be
more specific she refused to answer the question and only said "you
know what the uniforms look like."
B-1058 identified these masked men as Serbs on the basis that "they
spoke with Serbian accents."
She was miraculously able to identify the masked men by looking at
photographs. The logical question here is how she could identify them
by photographs if they were wearing masks. President Milosevic asked
her that very question. She answered by saying that she saw their
faces later on.
She said that when she went to Bijeljina she saw one of them there,
and that on another occasion she saw one of them in her sister's yard
in Janja, and on another occasion still she saw another one at some
unknown location in Zvornik. The president asked her where in Zvornik
she saw him, but she didn't know. She didn't see any of their faces at
the time of the alleged killing, and so the question remains how even
if she saw the men in the pictures in Bijeljina, Janja, and Zvornik --
how does she know that they are the ones who did the killing, if the
killers were wearing masks?
There is no evidence to prove that this killing took place. She never
saw the bodies, and the bodies have never been found, she heard
shooting and later on she heard from others that her husband and sons
were part of a group of 10 men that were killed.
B-1058 is the 2nd witness to testify about this alleged event. A
family friend of B-1058's previously testified under the pseudonym of
B-1237 that he saw this alleged killing taking place.
Unfortunately B-1237's testimony wasn't much better than B-1058's. I
looked-up B-1237's transcript to see if I could find out if his
testimony jived with that of B-1058. According to B-1237 he was able
to identify from 1 kilometer away both the perpetrators and the
victims of this alleged crime.
B-1237 was asked "You even managed to recognize from this distance of
1 kilometer the persons who were being taken out and executed. That's
what you're asserting too, isn't it?" and B-1237 replied, "I
recognized Sabit Bilalic and his son."
B-1237 explained the following to the prosecutor:
B-1237: I saw them taking people out. I saw them removing women and
executing a group of about ten men.
PROSECUTOR: Were you able to tell from your vantage point whether or
not the men that you say were executed were armed at the time of their
execution?
B-1237: Those people were civilians who were unarmed.
PROSECUTOR: Were you able to recognize any of the people that were
executed?
B-1237: Yes. I recognized late Sabit Bilalic and his son whom I can't
recall now.
PROSECUTOR: How were you able to recognize those two among the group?
B-1237: Sabit was one of the biggest men in Zvornik. He had extremely
-- he had an extremely thick moustache. And his son was very tall and
played basketball in the first village. I knew them personally.
///END TRANSCRIPT EXCERPT///
So B-1237 could tell from a kilometer away that not only were the
people unarmed but that two of them were his acquaintances, Sabit
Bilalic and his son. He could even see Sabit Bilalic's moustache from
this distance.... AMAZING! B-1237 must have the best eye sight in
Bosnia.
It was hard to believe, but B-1058, claimed to have no idea that her
friend B-1237 had previously testified about the same event that she
was there testifying about today, will coincidences never end?
B-1237 had testified that from his vantage point of 1 kilometer away,
he could identify the perpetrators. He said: "Men [Arkan's men] in
camouflage uniforms killed them, the ones that I had seen the previous
day, the previous night at the Jezero Hotel in Mali Zvornik."
Is it possible that B-1058 changed her testimony from saying that it
was Seselj’s men to saying that it was Arkan’s men in order that it
could coincide with her friend B-1237’s testimony? Or is it possible
that B-1058, and her friend B-1237 conspired to lie in order to
cover-up the fact that her husband and her son were actually killed in
battle, and not executed by anybody?
Both witnesses claim that the shooting occurred in different places.
B-1058 says that it happened right there at the apartments, whereas
B-1237 claims that the same group of men were marched out away from
the apartments, towards the center of Zvornik, and killed there.
Other interesting points in the testimony came when president
Milosevic asked B-1058 if her husband and sons’ bodies had been found
so that a forensic exam could prove how they were killed. B-1058
answered that they had not been found and so there was no way to prove
how they were killed (unless you believe eagle-eye B-1237).
B-1058 went on to explain that the bodies were not found because
Branko Grujic (President of the SDS in Zvornik) had all of the bodies
hidden, and moved them from gravesite to gravesite. B-1058 claimed
that she knew this because she claimed that she heard that some
unknown people with binoculars in Mali Zvornik watched this going on,
and she knew that Grujic must have ordered it because, according to
B-1058, he ordered everything.
The next witness was another 92-bis secret witness codenamed B-1610.
B-1610’s examination-in-chief consisted of handing in a written
statement. The prosecutor did not even bother to read out the “essence
of the testimony” with this witness and so it is difficult to tell
what he was there to testify about.
B-1610 was a Muslim and a member of the T.O. The T.O. manned
check-points. Nobody could pass the check-points without a pass, not
Serbs, not Muslims, and not Croats. B-1610’s T.O. unit manned some of
the checkpoints. B-1610’s unit was almost purely Muslim. In spite of
admitting to all of this B-1610 still claimed that the check-points
were only put in place to harass Muslims.
Another useful tidbit came when he said in his written statement that
as a T.O. member and a reservist he kept a JNA uniform at his house.
This means that anybody in the country who did their military service
could have a JNA uniform whether they were actually carrying out JNA
activities or not.
Another final interesting piece of information came when B-1610
claimed that a practice exsisted among some Muslim girls where they
would prostitute themselves to the soldiers, and later on they would
claim to have been raped.
The final witness of the day was Mustafa Ramic. Mr. Ramic was the
mayor or Brcko when the war broke out. Ramic was a leading figure in
the SDA. He was one of the first members of the SDA main board.
Ramic testified that the League of Communists won the 1990 elections
in Brcko, but that the SDS, HDZ, and SDA all formed a coalition and
overthrew the LC in Brcko.
Of course being a leading SDA figure has its obligations. You have to
blame the Serbs for everything and blame the Muslims for nothing, and
of course Mr. Ramic tried to live up to his political obligations, but
he was no match for Slobodan Milosevic.
First President Milosevic got the Mr. Ramic to say that he was very
well informed about what was going on in Brcko. Then the President got
Ramic to say that it was the Serbs who were starting the war, and that
the Muslims were unarmed. This was not a difficult task, but it left
the witness with his neck stuck way out.
Then Slobo dropped the guillotine on the witness’s overextended neck.
He started to produce documents that were issued by the witness’s own
Public Security Service, which as the mayor he oversaw.
The documents showed that there was arms smuggling a foot in Bosnia.
The documents showed that in 1991 (prior to the war), large quantities
of weapons and explosives were coming over the Croatian border
destined for Bosnian Muslim extremists.
In one case the smuggled explosives were going to be used to blow-up a
JNA rail transport that was headed for Serbia from the Brcko railway
station.
President Milosevic produced even more documents which stated that
Muslim extremists were using infantry weapons at the gun range in
Brcko for training purposes as early on as 1991.
The documents also stated that Ibrahim Ramic (the brother of the
witness) erected a war hospital long before the war ever began.
All the witness could do was say, “this is the first time I’ve seen
this,” and then try and change the subject by trying to accuse the
Serbs of something.
President Milosevic will have another 45 minutes with this witness
tomorrow.
1. "TRIAL" SYNOPSIS SEPTEMBER 2ND 2003
2. "TRIAL" SYNOPSIS SEPTEMBER 3, 2003
3. Milosevic too ill to attend trial; Montenegrin premier says he
refused to testify against Milosevic; Srpska government was blackmailed
4. "TRIAL" SYNOPSIS: SEPTEMBER 9, 2003
See also:
No break for Milosevic (by Margreet Strijbosch)
http://www.rnw.nl/hotspots/html/icty030903.html
=== 1 ===
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg090203.htm
"TRIAL" SYNOPSIS SEPTEMBER 2ND 2003
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - September 2, 2003
Written by: Andy Wilcoxson
The testimony of the secret witness testifying under the pseudonym of
"B-1505" was concluded today.
"B-1505" alleged that the JNA came to Visegrad, dismissed the legal
authorities, and armed the Serbs for the purposes of "ethnic
cleansing." A problem with "B-1505's" testimony was that this so-called
"B-1505" didn't mention anything about the JNA arming the Serbs in his
written statement. This was a new detail that he only remembered once
he took the witness stand.
And speaking of arms, this "B-1505" claimed with full certainty that
there were no armed Muslims in Visegrad, and that there were no Muslim
extremist groups in Visegrad, two claims which are outright absurdities.
Before "B-1505" repeated the same old tired Muslim line about not
having any weapons; he spoke about how Murat Sabanovic (the brother of
the SDA vice-president in Visegrad) tore down the statue of Ivo Andric
(Yugoslavia's only Nobel Prize winner) and threw the monument into the
Drina River. "B-1505" also admitted that this same Sabanovic seized
control of the hydroelectric dam and threatened to blow it up. However
not to worry, according to our witness, in spite of the fact that
people were living on the river, nobody would have been hurt even if
the dam had been blown-up. How reassuring!
I really fail to see how it could be possible that the witness could
say with a straight face that blowing-up the dam would be a harmless
endeavor. The witness admitted previously that when this Sabanovic took
control of the dam he had opened the flood gates and allowed water to
flood the populated areas down stream. It seems to me that it would
have been even worse had he blown-up the dam completely.
It was made clear by this witness's testimony that the JNA did not
come to Visegrad until after this major provocation, which the witness
didn't think was that big of a deal, had taken place. It was on April
13, 1992 that Sabanovic released the flood onto the civilian
population, and it was on April 15, 1992 that the Uzica Corps of the
JNA arrived to protect the civilians and to regain control of the dam.
"B-1505" admitted that the people of Visegrad had asked the JNA to
protect them and that the JNA did in fact protect them."B-1505" is a
witness who needs to make up his mind. If he is going to lie then he
should at least make his mind up about which lie to tell. On the one
hand he claimed that nobody could get out of Visegrad that they were
all trapped, and on the other hand he claimed that the Muslims were
all chased out of Visegrad.
"B-1505" has previously testified at other "trials" at the Hague
Tribunal, and so transcripts are available. Previously he testified
that he only knew of one person who was killed in JNA operations, but
now all of the sudden he knows about numerous people who he claims
were killed by the JNA. How interesting, this witness either has the
ability to travel back in time and see the JNA doing this, or else he
is simply parroting back what somebody else told him.
For more information about events in Visegrad visit the following link:
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/documents/reports/8-a.htm
After "B-1505" was concluded the so-called "trial" went into closed
session where they did God only knows what.
Later on in the afternoon a status conference was held President
Milosevic to establish parameters of the "defense case." President
Milosevic told the "tribunal" that time and circumstances were the
key issues.
President Milosevic stated that he needed at least two years to
prepare a response to the absurd allegations that have been made
against him.
Furthermore, President Milosevic has demanded unimpeded contact with
witnesses and the ability to access key documents needed to refute the
lies that have been put forward in The Hague, which can only be done
if he is released.
President Milosevic pointed out that although he regards the
so-called "court" as illegal, he still considers it the obligation
of the so-called "trial chamber" to give him adequate time to
prepare a defense.
Following President Milosevic's brilliant presentation, the so-called
"Judge" May did not hesitate to immediately deny, any request for
provisional release. Without giving any reason Mr. May also
dismissed President Milosevic's request for two years to prepare his
case.
After submissions from the amicus curiae and the so-called
"prosecution", President Milosevic spoke again, and claimed that the
"Prosecution's" suggestion that both parties were on an equal footing
was absurd.
President Milosevic concluded his remarks by stating that at the ICTY
there is only a prosecution and no defense, nor is there equality of
arms.
The so-called "trial chamber" has not issued any rulings on the
submissions made today, but has already rejected President
Milosevic's demands without any deliberation. A decision setting out
the parameters of President Milosevic's presentation his defense
case is expected soon.
The so-called "Judge" May said that "The accused must make the
preparations for his defense while he is in custody." He noted that the
court had previously denied a provisional release request by
Milosevic, who has been in detention since his illegal transfer to
The Hague in 2001.
"There can be no question during a trial of a break of two years,"
May said, adding that judges would consider how long Milosevic should
be given to prepare his case."
It is absurd that the so-called "tribunal" should deny President
Milosevic this time. The so-called "prosecution" has brought over
230 witnesses so far to testify against him. The transcript of the
"prosecution's" case is over 25,000 pages long. President Milosevic
needs at least 2 years to prepare an adequate defense from all of
those allegations.
NOTE: www.slobodan-milosevic.org will provide a synopsis of
tyesterday's "trial" hearing no later than Friday September 5, 2003.
=== 2 ===
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg090303.htm
"TRIAL" SYNOPSIS SEPTEMBER 3, 2003
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - September 3, 2003
The vast majority of today's proceedings took place in the so-called
"closed session." Only the 3rd session could be seen, while the first
two sessions were held in secret.
From what could be seen today a 92-bis witness named Mustafan
Kustanovic testified. Mr. Kustanovic is a Muslim businessman from
Bijeljina. Like so many other witnesses he testified about things that
he heard from other people, and he attempted to paint a personal
family dispute that he was having as some sort of an interethnic
dispute.
His testimony about the presence of Arkan and Captain Dragan in
Bijeljina contradicted the testimony of other prosecution
witnesses.His testimony also contradicted itself. On the one hand he
testified that Muslims had to pay bribes in order to leave, and on the
other hand he testified that they were chased away by the Serbs.
Mr. Kustanovic testified that there were many Muslims from Bijeljina
who joined the VRS, and that there were in fact Muslims who were
officers in the VRS. This testimony of his contradicted his allegation
that the Serbs were dismissing Muslims and replacing them with Serbs
at every opportunity. After all, as President Milosevic observed,
weren't there any Serbs who would have been competent to serve as VRS
officers?
=== 3 ===
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/dpa090403.htm
Milosevic too ill to attend trial
Deutsche Presse-Agentur - September 4, 2003
The Hague - Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic reported sick
Thursday, the judge presiding over his trial for alleged war crimes
said.
Judge Richard May ordered the 62-year-old former Yugolsav strongman to
undergo a new examination to determine his pyhsical and mental state
of health.
Milosevic, who is on trial in The Hague for alleged war crimes during
the 1990s Balkan war, is representing himself after refusing to use a
lawyer.
He has reported ill a total of 11 times since his trial began on
February 12, 2002, forcing the international criminal tribunal
tribunal trying him to cancel 50 days of hearings.
On Tuesday, the court turned down Milosevic's request for a break of
two years in judicial proceedings against him to allow him prepare his
defence.
The prosecution has so far presented 230 witnesses testifying against
Milosevic. Chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte still has until the end of
the year to present further witnesses and evidence.
Milosevic has demanded the right to call an equal number of witnesses
and take as much time delivering his defence.
Deutsche Presse-Agentur: POLITICS
September 4, 2003, Thursday -10:08 Central European Time
Copyright 2003 Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Posted For Fair Use Only
---
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/tvcg090603.htm
Montenegrin premier says he refused to testify against Milosevic
TV Crna Gora - September 6, 2003
Text of report by Montenegrin TV on 6 September
Presenter: Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic today said that
he would not testify during the trial of former Yugoslav and Serbian
President Slobodan Milosevic before the Hague tribunal. The Hague
tribunal asked me to testify against Slobodan Milosevic but I refused,
Djukanovic told TV Pink. Djukanovic said that he did not fall in the
category of those Montenegrins who ran around outside Montenegro,
rushing to offer any kind of evidence if they had it or, if not, to
offer their sheer suspicions even if these suspicions were unfounded.
I do not belong to such people; fortunately, I ended my battles with
Milosevic successfully and he now has an opportunity to prove what he
thinks he has to prove before the Hague tribunal but without my
participation, Djukanovic said.
SOURCE: TV Crna Gora, Podgorica, in Serbian 1730 gmt 6 Sep 03
Copyright 2003 British Broadcasting Corporation
BBC Monitoring Europe - Political
Supplied by BBC Worldwide Monitoring
Posted for Fair Use only.
---
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/tanjug091003.htm
Srpska government was blackmailed - Washington daily editor
Tanjug - September 10, 2003
18:11 WASHINGTON - Editor-in-Chief of the Washington daily Defense and
Foreign Affairs Gregory Copley said in a report presented to Tanjug
that the Republika Srpska government had been forced to draw up a
report on the developments in Srebrenica in July 1995, which is
essentially in conformity with claims by Islamist groups.
The Office of the High Representative for Bosnia had threatened the
Srpska government that it would be dissolved if it refused to draw up
that document, which does not reflect the true situation as shown by
forensic investigation carried out in Srpska or the results of an
independent investigation carried out by the International Criminal
Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Copley said.
Copyright 2003 Tanjug News Agency
Posted For Fair Use Only
=== 4 ===
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg090903.htm
"TRIAL" SYNOPSIS: SEPTEMBER 9, 2003
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - September 9, 2003
Written by: Andy Wilcoxson
The proceedings opened today with President Milosevic lambasting the
so-called "tribunal," especially Geoffrey Nice and Richard May for the
scandalous insinuations made by Mr. Nice last Thursday. In which Mr.
Nice implied that the president was only "playing hooky" and that
there was a pattern to his absences.
Three 92-bis witnesses testified today. The first was a secret witness
testifying under the pseudonym of "B-1058."
B-1058 was a woman from Zvornik who lost her husband and her 2 sons
during the war. B-1058 claims that masked men wearing camouflage
uniforms, who spoke with Serbian accents, burst into the cellar of her
apartment building where people were sheltering from the fighting, and
that these men separated the women and children from the men.
B-1058 claims that her husband and her sons were executed by the
masked men outside of the apartment block.
In B-1058's statement she claims that Seselj's men carried out the
killings and that Arkan's men helped to evacuate the women and
children to Serbia, but in her oral testimony she claims the opposite.
She claims that Arkan's men carried out the killing and that it was
Seselj's men who evacuated the women and children.
President Milosevic asked B-1058 to describe the uniforms that these
masked men were wearing. B-1058 could only say that they were
camouflage uniforms, she didn't identify any insignias, patches or
anything of that sort, when the President tried to press her to be
more specific she refused to answer the question and only said "you
know what the uniforms look like."
B-1058 identified these masked men as Serbs on the basis that "they
spoke with Serbian accents."
She was miraculously able to identify the masked men by looking at
photographs. The logical question here is how she could identify them
by photographs if they were wearing masks. President Milosevic asked
her that very question. She answered by saying that she saw their
faces later on.
She said that when she went to Bijeljina she saw one of them there,
and that on another occasion she saw one of them in her sister's yard
in Janja, and on another occasion still she saw another one at some
unknown location in Zvornik. The president asked her where in Zvornik
she saw him, but she didn't know. She didn't see any of their faces at
the time of the alleged killing, and so the question remains how even
if she saw the men in the pictures in Bijeljina, Janja, and Zvornik --
how does she know that they are the ones who did the killing, if the
killers were wearing masks?
There is no evidence to prove that this killing took place. She never
saw the bodies, and the bodies have never been found, she heard
shooting and later on she heard from others that her husband and sons
were part of a group of 10 men that were killed.
B-1058 is the 2nd witness to testify about this alleged event. A
family friend of B-1058's previously testified under the pseudonym of
B-1237 that he saw this alleged killing taking place.
Unfortunately B-1237's testimony wasn't much better than B-1058's. I
looked-up B-1237's transcript to see if I could find out if his
testimony jived with that of B-1058. According to B-1237 he was able
to identify from 1 kilometer away both the perpetrators and the
victims of this alleged crime.
B-1237 was asked "You even managed to recognize from this distance of
1 kilometer the persons who were being taken out and executed. That's
what you're asserting too, isn't it?" and B-1237 replied, "I
recognized Sabit Bilalic and his son."
B-1237 explained the following to the prosecutor:
B-1237: I saw them taking people out. I saw them removing women and
executing a group of about ten men.
PROSECUTOR: Were you able to tell from your vantage point whether or
not the men that you say were executed were armed at the time of their
execution?
B-1237: Those people were civilians who were unarmed.
PROSECUTOR: Were you able to recognize any of the people that were
executed?
B-1237: Yes. I recognized late Sabit Bilalic and his son whom I can't
recall now.
PROSECUTOR: How were you able to recognize those two among the group?
B-1237: Sabit was one of the biggest men in Zvornik. He had extremely
-- he had an extremely thick moustache. And his son was very tall and
played basketball in the first village. I knew them personally.
///END TRANSCRIPT EXCERPT///
So B-1237 could tell from a kilometer away that not only were the
people unarmed but that two of them were his acquaintances, Sabit
Bilalic and his son. He could even see Sabit Bilalic's moustache from
this distance.... AMAZING! B-1237 must have the best eye sight in
Bosnia.
It was hard to believe, but B-1058, claimed to have no idea that her
friend B-1237 had previously testified about the same event that she
was there testifying about today, will coincidences never end?
B-1237 had testified that from his vantage point of 1 kilometer away,
he could identify the perpetrators. He said: "Men [Arkan's men] in
camouflage uniforms killed them, the ones that I had seen the previous
day, the previous night at the Jezero Hotel in Mali Zvornik."
Is it possible that B-1058 changed her testimony from saying that it
was Seselj’s men to saying that it was Arkan’s men in order that it
could coincide with her friend B-1237’s testimony? Or is it possible
that B-1058, and her friend B-1237 conspired to lie in order to
cover-up the fact that her husband and her son were actually killed in
battle, and not executed by anybody?
Both witnesses claim that the shooting occurred in different places.
B-1058 says that it happened right there at the apartments, whereas
B-1237 claims that the same group of men were marched out away from
the apartments, towards the center of Zvornik, and killed there.
Other interesting points in the testimony came when president
Milosevic asked B-1058 if her husband and sons’ bodies had been found
so that a forensic exam could prove how they were killed. B-1058
answered that they had not been found and so there was no way to prove
how they were killed (unless you believe eagle-eye B-1237).
B-1058 went on to explain that the bodies were not found because
Branko Grujic (President of the SDS in Zvornik) had all of the bodies
hidden, and moved them from gravesite to gravesite. B-1058 claimed
that she knew this because she claimed that she heard that some
unknown people with binoculars in Mali Zvornik watched this going on,
and she knew that Grujic must have ordered it because, according to
B-1058, he ordered everything.
The next witness was another 92-bis secret witness codenamed B-1610.
B-1610’s examination-in-chief consisted of handing in a written
statement. The prosecutor did not even bother to read out the “essence
of the testimony” with this witness and so it is difficult to tell
what he was there to testify about.
B-1610 was a Muslim and a member of the T.O. The T.O. manned
check-points. Nobody could pass the check-points without a pass, not
Serbs, not Muslims, and not Croats. B-1610’s T.O. unit manned some of
the checkpoints. B-1610’s unit was almost purely Muslim. In spite of
admitting to all of this B-1610 still claimed that the check-points
were only put in place to harass Muslims.
Another useful tidbit came when he said in his written statement that
as a T.O. member and a reservist he kept a JNA uniform at his house.
This means that anybody in the country who did their military service
could have a JNA uniform whether they were actually carrying out JNA
activities or not.
Another final interesting piece of information came when B-1610
claimed that a practice exsisted among some Muslim girls where they
would prostitute themselves to the soldiers, and later on they would
claim to have been raped.
The final witness of the day was Mustafa Ramic. Mr. Ramic was the
mayor or Brcko when the war broke out. Ramic was a leading figure in
the SDA. He was one of the first members of the SDA main board.
Ramic testified that the League of Communists won the 1990 elections
in Brcko, but that the SDS, HDZ, and SDA all formed a coalition and
overthrew the LC in Brcko.
Of course being a leading SDA figure has its obligations. You have to
blame the Serbs for everything and blame the Muslims for nothing, and
of course Mr. Ramic tried to live up to his political obligations, but
he was no match for Slobodan Milosevic.
First President Milosevic got the Mr. Ramic to say that he was very
well informed about what was going on in Brcko. Then the President got
Ramic to say that it was the Serbs who were starting the war, and that
the Muslims were unarmed. This was not a difficult task, but it left
the witness with his neck stuck way out.
Then Slobo dropped the guillotine on the witness’s overextended neck.
He started to produce documents that were issued by the witness’s own
Public Security Service, which as the mayor he oversaw.
The documents showed that there was arms smuggling a foot in Bosnia.
The documents showed that in 1991 (prior to the war), large quantities
of weapons and explosives were coming over the Croatian border
destined for Bosnian Muslim extremists.
In one case the smuggled explosives were going to be used to blow-up a
JNA rail transport that was headed for Serbia from the Brcko railway
station.
President Milosevic produced even more documents which stated that
Muslim extremists were using infantry weapons at the gun range in
Brcko for training purposes as early on as 1991.
The documents also stated that Ibrahim Ramic (the brother of the
witness) erected a war hospital long before the war ever began.
All the witness could do was say, “this is the first time I’ve seen
this,” and then try and change the subject by trying to accuse the
Serbs of something.
President Milosevic will have another 45 minutes with this witness
tomorrow.